


Alt. 12 Water (Merlin and Lancelot)

by Onehelluvapilot



Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural (TV) Fusion, Gen, Hunters & Hunting, Hurt Lancelot (Merlin), Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Ocean, Protective Lancelot (Merlin), Water, Whump, Whumptober 2020, kraken - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26953507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Tumblr page, apparently today is part of cephalopod awareness week, so that's fortuitous. Not my intention, as I has a different story planned out for today and then ran out of time to write it. It'll be featured on Day 15 instead,  I think
Relationships: Lancelot & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952440
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Alt. 12 Water (Merlin and Lancelot)

**Author's Note:**

> According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Tumblr page, apparently today is part of cephalopod awareness week, so that's fortuitous. Not my intention, as I has a different story planned out for today and then ran out of time to write it. It'll be featured on Day 15 instead, I think

Kraken weren’t as big as the stories portrayed them, but they weren’t small either. It was definitely a good thing that they’d brought explosives and a harpoon gun, because bullets clearly were not going to cut it against a creature the size of a bus. They’d already tossed several sticks of dynamite overboard, blowing a chunk off the squid’s face and hopefully damaging enough of its internal organs that it would start to weaken quickly. Not soon enough, however, as one of its tentacles swept over the boat and knocked Merlin overboard. Lancelot immediately jumped into the water after him.

Behind him, the kraken grabbed hold of their boat and began to rip it apart, but he paid it no mind. He had to find Merlin. The secretary wasn’t visible at the surface and Lance dove underneath the waves to look for him, forcing his eyes open despite the sting of the salt. He swam desperately downwards as he realized his friend was sinking, clearly unconscious. The tentacle must’ve hit him in the head and knocked him out. His fingers brushed the other man’s collar when they were maybe twenty feet down. He seized him by the arms and began to kick them back to the surface.

He gasped for air when they reached it, but Merlin didn’t, still unconscious. Lancelot quickly arranged him so that his face was out of the water, head lolling back against his shoulder from where he was held against the hunter’s chest. He knew that there was some way to give rescue breaths while still in the water, but he wasn’t trained in it. It was a relief, then, when he raised a hand in front of Merlin's face and could feel air stir against it as he breathed. With luck, he hadn’t inhaled much water in his time beneath it.

Lance considered their options as he looked around and saw that their boat had been completely demolished. The kraken must’ve taken most of it down into the deep with it, as there weren’t even any large pieces left floating. He treaded water, trying to consider their situation. The woman who they had rented the boat from would be expecting them to return in a few hours, but she was the only one who even knew they were out there and it was doubtful that she’d call the Coast Guard when they didn’t return. After all, she was more likely to assume that they’d just lost track of time than that they’d been sunk by a kraken. So they could tread water and float, which they would be able to sustain for longer than trying to really swim, but their odds of being rescued weren’t good. Coupled with the threat of hypothermia, even in the relatively warm waters off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, and the need to get Merlin to a hospital in case he was more hurt than he seemed, the choice was clear. Lancelot carefully reached one arm around his friend’s chest, holding him under the armpit and using his hips to keep his body flat in the water as he began to swim. He swam towards the sun, since it was afternoon and they were on the East coast. Hopefully they’d make it to shore before darkness fell.

Their clothes weighed them down, especially Merlin’s soaked coat and heavy boots, but there wasn’t any way to strip them off. Lancelot just switched arms periodically so as not to tire himself out. He also paused sometimes to just float, propping his body up under his friend’s and just breathing. It was during one of these breaks that Merlin woke, jerking suddenly in Lancelot’s grip.

“What the-”

“Hey, hey, don’t move,” Lance ordered sharply. He didn’t know if he had the energy to dive down and pull Merlin back to the surface if he squirmed himself out of his grip and started to flounder. “The kraken wrecked the boat, so we’re swimming back to shore.”

“Swimming?”

“Yeah. Well, currently we’re floating.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Would this be a good time to tell you I can’t swim?”

“I might have preferred a little more warning,” Lancelot replied, stifling a groan. He’d been hoping that his friend could support himself when he woke up, but it seemed like he was going to have to carry him still. At least now they could change to an easier position. “Alright. I’m gonna let go of you and then turn over, and you grab onto my shoulders piggyback style. Just try not to strangle me.”

“Would this be a bad time to tell you that the whole world feels like it’s spinning and I think I’m going to be sick if I try and move?”

“Well, I’m glad you gave me the warning,” he said, resigning himself to continue the swim, carrying Merlin as he had been doing. It was probably for the best, since the man lapsed back into unconsciousness soon after, despite Lancelot’s best attempts to keep him awake.

He’d fallen so deeply into the routine of swim, rest, switch arms, check the sun, swim that he didn’t look up and notice that he was almost to shore until he heard a shout. He turned around to look, and it was hard to tell whether he was more shocked by the fact that he was only about a hundred feet from shore or that he could see Arthur and Leon, of all people, wading out towards him. It had to be sunstroke, he thought, causing him to hallucinate. Their friends couldn’t really be there.

“Merlin!” Arthur shouted, and Lancelot wondered how he could see who it was. Maybe it was just instinct, or that intangible bond that existed between the Man of Letters and his secretary. He plucked the unconscious man out of Lance’s grasp as soon as they reached each other, and Leon steadied him as he fought to find his balance with his feet shifting in the soft sand of the sea floor. “What happened?” Arthur demanded as he cradled Merlin against his chest.

“Kraken,” Lance coughed in reply. “Hit him in the head and knocked him overboard before sinking our boat. He woke up for a little while, but couldn’t stay awake. Bad concussion if not something worse,” he relayed the information about his injured friend quickly. “You should take him to the hospital.” Arthur nodded, and turned to beginning pushing his way quickly through the waist-high water as he strode towards shore.The other two hunters followed him more slowly, and had only just reached the beach when Arthur’s pickup truck pulled away from where it had been parked on the side of the road that ran parallel to the shore. “How did you find us?” Lancelot asked Leon when the truck had gone as they walked towards his subaru where it sat behind where the other vehicle had been.

“Luck, mostly,” he replied. “We finished up that rugaru down in Florida and thought we might stop in to help you two, since your case seemed interesting. Neither of you answered the phone though, so we decided to stick around. We were just on our way into town to see if we could track you down when Arthur spotted you swimming in.” He helped Lancelot into the passenger seat of his car and buckled him in before walking around the car to climb into the driver side. “It’s a good thing he pulled over, since I thought your heads were just a pair of birds until we pulled out the binoculars.”

“Oh. That is lucky.”

Leon nodded as he pulled the car out onto the road. “Which hotel do you and Merlin have a room at? We’ll go there and get you dried off and wait for Arthur to call with news.”

“The Seaside Inn,” Lancelot replied, letting his eyes drift shut and trying not to worry about Merlin. The warlock would be fine. He had to be.

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be continued tomorrow with Alt. 6 Altered States. Comments are always appreciated. Come talk to me on tumblr, where I'm @gremlinbehaviour


End file.
